THIS IS ROME

Today is my final day in Rome. Becc and I have been staying with our dear friend Rae, who is a UW intern here at their Rome center. Rae has been the perfect host who has gone above and beyond making us comfortable, she has even served as our own personal tour guide with an extensive knowledge of the historical locations of Rome. I am almost certain that this knowledge has come from her art history degree combined with the fact that she has been to Rome a few times and is able to speak Italian.

I wish I could have the memory that Rae does so that I could relay all of the facts to you about this beautiful city, but sadly there are only a few facts that I can recall. However, there are many memories from my stay in Rome that I hope to always remember.

Although the city is large, with a population close to 2.5 million, it is still small enough that we were able to walk everywhere in the city and still have time for nap time (siesta) in our large comfortable bed in our very own apartment which has the most beautiful view of the Piazza Farnese. A few intersting facts about our apartment are that it was built over the location where Julius Ceasar was killed and that the movie "eat, pray, love", which is also a book that I highly recomend, was filmed right on our front door.
A few of the sights that we were able to visit are as follows,
Vatican City.












The Colosseum.


















The Spanish Steps.














The Pantheon.














The Trevi Fountain.








All of these beautiful structures were just as interesting and lovely as I would have thought and just as full of tourists as seen in most photographs.



Food. The food here is lovely. We have eaten pizza almost every day, 3 euros for pleanty enough food for a good solid lunch. And the pizza isnt like the pizza that I am used to; on the first day mine was topped with potatoes, rosemary and olive oil. The first night we went to a local pasta resturant that Rae and her roommate, Leisha, both like. I am not sure what kind of sauce I got, but I know that I loved it.

This morning Becca and I had a lovely cup of coffee from a cafe that is said to be the best coffee in Rome; it was pure bliss and tasted nothing like starbucks. In the piazza below our apartment there is a market that is open daily where we got fruit for breakfast and a bag of pasta to take with us.




Night life here is unbelievable; people are out and about until midnight or later each and every night. I even saw children out late with their parents. Families don't eat dinner until about 9pm here and the meal can go on for a very long time if wished. Outside of the room where Becc and I are staying we could hear people in the piazza until the early hours of the morning. People of
all ages, singing and dancing, eating and drinking, mostly just enjoying life.